Coordinated regulating device



L. F. HOFFMAN.

COORDINATED REGULATING DEVICE.

- APPLICATION FILED FEB,24,1921.

1,4L12,85o Patented Apr-11, 1922.4

4 SHEETS-SHEET I.

' 4 14 ENTOR.

A TTORNE Y.

L. F. HOFFMAN.

COORDINATED REGULATING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 24, 921.

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ATTORNEY.

L. F. HOFFMAN.

COORDINATED REGULATING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB, 24, 1921.

1 43;12,8U5 Patented Apr. 11, 1922.

4 SHEET$-SHEET 3.

L. F. HOFFMAN.

COORDINATED REGULATING DEVICE.

AFPLICATIONIILED FEB, 24. 1921.

1 i1n%,8@5., Patented Apr. IL 31922.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

1 NV EN TOR.

unrrensrares Parana @FFHGEQ LEON F. HOFFMAN, OF FRANKLIN, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIG-NOR TO CHICAGO PNEU- MATEO TOOL CO., OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

CO ORDINATED REG-ULATING DEVICE.

Application filed February 24, 1921. Serial No. 447,583.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, LEON F. HOFFMAN, a citizencf the United States, residing at Franklin, in the county of Venango and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Coordinated Regulating Devices, of which the following is a specification.

The objects, construction and operation of my coordinated regulating means for an internal combustion engine and an'air compressor driven thereby, are herein set forth with sufficient clearness to enable those skilled in the arts to which its construct-ion and operation respectively relate, to make and use the same.

Heretofore, unloading devices for comressors have been commonly employed, and it is not sought to hereby cover such a device in itself, since many of the well-known forms of air compressor unloaders are adapted to be employed in combination in my coordinated regulating means. The unloading device for the air compressor illustrated in the drawings is fully shown and described in Letters Patent of the United States No. 1,224,272, dated May 1, 1917.

In the unloading devices heretofore employe'd, the operation of the unloader has been confined to the one function of unloading the air compressor when the pressure in the receiver into which the compressor is discharging has reached a predetermined point, but the speed of the internal combustion engine which drives the compressor has been allowed to continue at its normal rate, notwithstanding the fact that it has, for the time being, been relieved of the greater portion of its load.

It is desirable that, when the unloading of a gas-engine-driven air compressor takes place, the speed should be reduced, for the purpose of reducing the wear of the plant to a minimum, also for the sake of economy of fuel, lubricant, and general efficiency. It is therefore one object of this invention to accomplish such speed reduction. Other objects will. be presently pointed out.

Certain means whereby I am enabled to accomplish said objects are illustrated in the drawings, which form a part hereof and in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic elevation of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal section of one end of the actuator valve.

F g. 3 is a central vertical section of the mot ve-agent regulating organization for the en me.

ig. 4 is a central longitudinal section of an inlet valve of an air compressor and an unloading device therefor.

. F 1g. 5 is a transverse section of the cylinder of a single-cylinder internal combustion motor and the throttling device for the air which forms a portion of the motive-agent mlxture.

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic elevation illustrating a. method of applying my inventive ldea to a mult-i-cylinder engine employing a carburetor.

Fig. '7 is a central vertical section of the actuating device for the throttle of the carburetor.

Fig. 8 is an elevation of a carburetor with actuating device shown in Fig. 7 applied thereto.

The construction illustrated in said drawis substantially as follows:

he actuative member of this equipment consists of a valve 1' adapted .to be actuated by fluid under pressure so as to cause a release of a portion of said fluid to actuate the regulating means; said fluid is preferably the compressed air in the receiver-not showninto which the compressor is discharging. This valve 1 is fully shown and described" in the Letters Patent previously designated, but briefly described, it comprises the following detailsreference being especially to Fig. 2. The closure or cap 2 of the valve body is provided with an inwardlyextending tubular boss 3, the inner open end of which is adapted to form a seat for the Valve 4: said valve 4 consists of a cup, the rim or flange 5 of which surrounds said boss 3, so as to be movable longitudinally thereon: the inner bottom wall of said valve is adapted to seat closely upon said inner or open end of said boss. Surrounding said valve 4 is an annular chamber 6, the lower wall of which is formed into a seat 7 for the seating of. the outer face of said valve 4. Bearingagainst said outer face of said valve is a plunger 8 which is pressed in the direction of or against said valve by a compression spring 9, so as to hold said valve into contact with the seat of said tubular boss 3,

which is the normal seating position. The lower end of said spring bears upon the longitudinally-mljustable screw l(),-Fig. 3 whereby the degree of pressure \vhereat said valve. is actuable, may be regulated as required. The stem of said plunger 8 extends through said'screw 10, and is thus securely guided.

The cap 2 is provided with a pipe tap 11 for the insertion of a pipe 12, which leads to a supply of fluid under pressure, as previously stated. A pipe-tap 13 pierces the outer wall of said annular chamber 6 for the reception of a pipe 14 communicating with the unloader of the compressor and the throttle of the engine. The flange 5 of valve 1 is provided with ports 5 for the passage of air from pipe 12 to pipe 14 when said valve 4 is in the position shown in Fig. 2.

The throttling equipment provided for a gas engine comprises a gas throttle 15 and an air throttle 16. The throttle 15 may be any of the well-known forms of centrifugal governors such as have heretofore been commonly used for regulating the supply of fuel gas to a gas engine. As heretofore employed, however, this form of governor has been used to regulate the gas supply only, and some suitable form of manually operated valve is used to regulate the air supply. \Vhen starting the engine said air valve is opened to a degree which will permit the passage of the required amount of air to produce, under average conditions, the right fuel proportions of gas and air. If, however. the air pipe leading to the engine is properly proportioned, a valve for same is often dispensed with and the proper proportion of gas to make a suitable fuel mixture under average conditions is regulated by a gas cock as 17, shown in Fig. 1. In such an arrangement, the volume of air supply remains constant while the quantity of gas is constantly being varied by the action of the governor valve 18 and for this reason such a method of governing an internal combustion engine is neither so economical nor so efficient as it should be.

Incidentally to the production of a coordinated regulating device of high eiiiciency, I have devised throttling means for both the air and the gas which form the fuel mixture, and whereby the relative proportions of these elements is caused to remain constant. Said gas throttle is, as previously stated, any suitable governor of the centrifugal type, as indicated at 19 in Fig. 1. The throttle for the air supply comprises a body 16, having an inner chamber 20 therein, with two passages 21, 21, substantially such as are usually employed for cooperation with a balanced valve.

For cooperation with said passages 21, I provide the discs 22, which are mounted upon the vertically movable stem 23. The

upper-end of said stem 23 is attached to a lever 24, having, as a fulcrum at one end thereof, the link 25, which in turn is pivoted to the lug 26, carried by said body 16. To the other end of said lever 24- is connected the lower end of a reach-rod 27, the upper end of which is connected adjacent to one end of the lever 28; the other end of said lever 28 is connected to the lever shaft 29 of the centrifugal governor.

Mounted upon the throttle-body 16, is a cylinder 30 which carries a piston 31 supplied with a plunger or stem 32, which is positioned in axial alinement with said discstem 23. Beneath said piston 31 is a com.- pression spring 33 which serves to yieldably retain said piston at the upper limit of its travel, and to return it thereto as required. The upper end of said piston is supplied with apacking member 34.- which adapts it to be fluid-actuated in the downward direction in opposition to said spring 33. Pipe 14 leads from the actuator valve 1 into said cylinder 30 above said piston 31. The purpose of said pipe connection between said actuator valve and said cylinder 30 will he presently set forth, but before proceeding with this description, it is pointed out that all regulative action imparted to valve 18 by the centrifugal elements of the governor, is communicated to the discs 22, through said lever 28, rod 27, lever 24 and stem 23, which produces a regulation of the air element of the fuel coordinate with and corresponding to the regulation of the gas supply, thus serving to keep the relative proportions of these elements constant regardless of the total volume thereof, or the fact that they may enter the engine cylinder through separate ports especially as 105 shown in Fig. 5, in which 17 indicates the gas admission port to the cylinder and 16' indicates the air admission port.

The precise form of the air compressor unloader used with my coordinated regulat- 110 ing device is immaterial except for the sake of sufficiency of this specification.

I have shown in Fig. 4 a form of unloader that is well adapted to the purpose in view. The form of unloader here shown is applied 115 to the intake valve of the compressor, and when unloading takes place this valve is held open and air both enters at and regurgitates therethrough, so that no new supply of air is taken into the compressor cylinder, 120 and consequently discharge of compressed air into the receiver ceases for the time being. The unloader here shown is, per se, not new, but enters into my invention as an element in a novel combination, hence it will 125 be only briefly described. The inlet valve proper is indicated in Fig. 4 by the ordinal 35, which is yieldably retained upon its seat by the springs 36: a stud 37 passes through the valve seat 38 and valve keeper 39 to se- 130 44, they lower end of which is bifurcate and the two legs thereof rest upon the adjacent end of the valve lifter 40. Said piston 44 is also supplied with a-packing 45 to adapt it to fluid actuation. Actuator pipe 14 leads into said cylinder for the admissiomef fluid released by'the actuator 1.

It will readily be understood that the actuator pipe 14 whereby communication is efi'ected between the actuator valve 1, cylinder and cylinder 43 is the means'whereby coordinate regulation between the unloader and the throttling device is secured;

,Brieflyset forth, the operation of this construction is as follows: When the air in the air receiver into which the compressor is'discharging {or any other suitable pressure source) has reached a predetermined maxi mum limit, the actuator valve is caused, as

aforesaid, to release a portion, of said air which passes 'through the actuator pipe, simultaneously to the throttle cylinder 30 and to the unloader' cylinder 43, and thus as the compressor in unloaded, the fuel supply to the engine is so reduced as .to cause the speed of the engine to be lowered to a minimum. It should be noted that, when unloading takes place, the :function of the fuel throttling means is reversed, in the following respects. governor actuates both the gas valve 18, and the air valves 22, but when stem 23 is'forced downward by the piston 31, or its plunger, this actuation is transmitted to the valve 18, and causes a diminution of the gas supply in excess of that which should be normally caused by the governor, as this normal diminution would be only such .as to keep the speed of the engine constant, whereas,the action of my regulating means is such as to materiallyreduce the speed of the engine during the intervalwhen there is no avail able work being done.

A further novel and valuablefunction of this fuel throttlin action in case of ireaking of the driving belt 46, in which case pulley 47 will drop, causing a corresponding movement of the cam 48, and. an actuation of the emergency lever 49, which is fixed to the shaft 29; this will cause a corresponding ac-tionoflevers 28 and 24, which will cause the discs 22 to close the air throttle 16. It sometimes happens-that, in such an emergency as this, the valve 18 in the throttle 15 will fail to act, and in such a casethe air throttling means becomes a valuable safety device.

A plurality of eyes 50, in the levers 24 Normally, the centrifugal means is brought into and 28 provide for the necessary actuative adjustments.

I provide for applying my regulating equipment'toa multi-cylinder engine in the manner illustrated in Figs. 6, 7 and 8. The equipment .here illustrated comprises the actuator valve 1, which is here shown in an inverted position, as compared with that shown in the preceding views, since it is immaterial which position is employed.

In this-class of engines a carburetor-Fig. 8is emplo ed, to which I apply a. throttle lever 51. n actuating device is provided for said lever 51 constructed as shown in Fi 7. lhis actuating device comprises a cylinder 52, carrying a piston 53, with an upwardly-extending stem 54," which projects through the top of said cylinder. Bearing upon the top of said piston is a compression spring 55 which yieldably retains said piston and its stem in the lowermost position as illustrated. Said cylinder is provided with attaching lugs 56 whereby it is attached to a carburetor, as shown in Fig. 8, with the extremity of said stem 54 in contact with, or in suitable juxtaposition to,said throttle lever 51.

When released air passes through pipe 1 it enters the unloader cylinder 43, where it 'erforms the function previously set forth:

aid released air simultaneously enters the throttle cylinder 52, and forces piston 53 upward and stem 54 correspondingly actuates lever 51 so as to partially close the throttle valve of the carbureter, thereby re ducing the speed of the engine.

1 claim the following:

1. Coordinated regulating means for an internal combustion engine and an air compressor driven thereby, comprising in combination, throttling means for the motive agent of said engine, an unloading device .for said air'compressor, and means coordinately actuating said throttling means and said unloading device at a predetermined stage.

2. Coordinated regulating means for an internal combustion engine and an air compressor driven thereby, comprising in combination, throttling means for the motive agent of said engine, an unloading device for said an compressor, and automatic means and said unloading device by said agent upon said release thereof.

4. Coordinated regulating means for an internal combustion engine and an an compressor driven thereby, comprising in combination a valve adapted to be actuated by a fluid under pressure so as to cause a release of a portion of said fluid, means for regulating the degree of pressure whereat said valve is actuable, throttling means for the motive agent of said engine, actuable by sald released fluid, an unloader for said compressor also actuable by said released fluid, and

means causing said actuation of said throt-' tling means and said unloader to be coordinate.

5. Coordinated regulating means for an internal combustion engine and an alr com pressor driven thereby, comprising 1n com bination, a valve adapted to be actuated by fluid under pressure and provided withsaid unloader.

6. Coordinated regulating means for an internal combustion engine and an air compressor driven thereby comprising in combination, an unloader for said compressor, fuel-throttling means for said engine and means co-ordinating the unloading function of said air compressor and the throttling function of said fuel-throttling means, in such manner that the speed of said engine is reduced when said air compressor is unloaded.

7. Coordinated regulating means for an internal combustion engine and an air compressor driven thereby comprising in combination, an unloader for said air compressor, a throttle for the fuel of said'engine arranged to maintain a normal speed of said engine, and means arranged to actuate said fuel-throttling means co-ordinately with the action of said unloader for the purpose of reducing the speed of said engine below normal speed, when said unloader is active. 8. Coordinated regulating means for an internal combustion engine and an air compressor driven thereby comprising in combination, an unloader for said compressor, throttling means for the fuel of said engine adapted to maintain the desired normal speed of said engine under normal powerrequirements therefrom, and means adapted to automatically actuate said throttling means for the purpose of reducing the speed of said engine co-ordinately with the unloadin action of said unloader. 9. oordinated regulating means for an air compressor and an internal combustion engine arranged to drive said compressor, comprising an air compressor provided with an unloader arranged to arrest the delivery of air from said a1r compressor at a determined stage of pressure of the air so delivered, in combination with an internal combustion engine arranged to drive said air compressor, throttling means for the fuel supplied to said engine, means associated with-said throttling means active synchronously with the action of said unloader whereb said fuel supply to said engine is reduce when said unloader is active, and means restoring said throttling means to its normal fuel-admiting position, upon the discontinuance of the action of said unloader. 10. Coordinated regulating means for an internal combustion engine and an air compressor driven thereby comprising in combination, an, air compressor, an unloader for said air compressor adapted to arrest the delivery of air from said air compressor at a stageof determined pressure of said air, an internal combustion engine arranged to drive said compressor, throttling means for the fuel supply of said engine arranged to maintain a desired normal speed of said.

engine when said unloader is inactive, a pressure-actuated valve 1n communlcatlon with a receiver containing compressed airdelivered by said air compressor, said valve being adapted to release air from said receiver at said determined pressure, and means simultaneousl delivering said released air to said un oader to actuate same into its unloading position and to said throttling means, whereby a reduction as compared with the normal amount of fuel supplied to. said engine is caused during the period wherein said unloader is maintained in said unloading position.

LEON F. HOFFMAN. Witnesses:

D. V. FORKES, J. H. SPEER. 

